Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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877. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth when overdue payments for accommodating Ukrainian refugees will issue to a hotelier (details supplied) in County Kerry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12361/23]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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My Department has engaged over 750 properties to provide accommodation for Ukrainian Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection. In line with the Department’s commitment to substantially clear the backlog at the end of 2022, I temporarily re-assigned staff from other parts of the Department in December, doubling the size of the payments unit. The enlarged team approved more than 100 million euros worth of payments.

My Department is prioritising maintaining a practice of more timely payments, including providing more resources to address any issues. Any delays in making payments are deeply regretted and my Department is according this issue very high priority.

I am advised by my officials that two Invoices for the first mentioned hotel in the Details Supplied have been processed and payment is expected to issue shortly, pending final checks. Three further Invoices required correction and I am advised that my officials have engaged with the supplier on this matter. One invoice is awaiting a Purchase Order number and this will issue this week.

With regard to second mentioned hotel, I am advised that the December and January Invoices were paid on 9th of March 2023. Two further invoices are in hand and will be prioritised for processing, with payment set to issue in the coming weeks, subject to final checks.

The delay in payment is due to the large volume of invoices being received by my Department. Additional resources have been assigned within my Department, in addition to outsourcing of some tasks to accelerate processing. The volume of payments issuing is steadily growing. My Department will continue to press on to eliminate the backlog while ensuring appropriate governance is in place to safeguard the proper spending of Exchequer funding.